Flock
Judge Rules Flock Surveillance Images Are Public Records That Can Be Requested By Anyone
A Washington judge said images taken by Flock cameras are "not exempt from disclosure" in public record requests.
News
Download the Newly Unsealed Jeffrey Epstein Documents Here
Hundreds of pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were unsealed Wednesday. Here they are.
Surveillance
New Jersey Used COVID Relief Funds to Buy Banned Chinese Surveillance Cameras
Cameras sold to police throughout New Jersey were made by a banned Chinese company but were modified to have different colors and the company's logo removed, court records show.
News
Wickr Is Dead
The app was a privacy-championing startup, before becoming an app of choice for drug traffickers and being acquired by Amazon Web Services. Near the stroke of midnight on December 31, 2023, AWS shut down the free version of Wickr for good.
age verification
North Carolina and Montana Just Lost Access to Pornhub
As North Carolina and Montana enact new age verification laws effective January 1, residents can’t view sites in Pornhub’s parent company network.
Video Games
13-Year-Old Becomes First Person to Ever Beat Tetris
34 years after its release on NES, Blue Scuti has become the first human to ever reach Tetris' Kill Screen.
News
Real Estate ‘Visionary’ Allegedly Behind Massive, Viral Airbnb Fraud Charged
Shray Goel allegedly duped guests to properties that didn’t exist and then refused to issue refunds. Years after a media report outed his scheme, authorities caught up with Goel last month.
Behind The Blog
Behind the Blog: A Gift Guide, Goals, and Some End of Year Nostalgia
This week, we discuss the year we've had, technology journalism as a complicated feeling, and some gift ideas for your last minute shopping.
Announcements
404 Media Holiday Gift Guide: A Gift Subscription to 404 Media
The perfect gift: a subscription that supports independent digital journalism.
Labor
‘No Laughing Matter:’ Clowns Sue Clowns.com for Wage Theft
Former employees of the party entertainer company say they are victims of stolen wages and misclassification. The federal lawsuit details claims of QAnon conspiracy theorist bosses and retaliation for discussing allegedly illegal practices with colleagues.
Podcast
Podcast: These Companies Say They're Using Microphone Audio to Target Ads
On this week's episode we discuss how marketers might actually be listening to conversations through smart devices. Here's everything we know.
AI
Largest Dataset Powering AI Images Removed After Discovery of Child Sexual Abuse Material
The model is a massive part of the AI-ecosystem, used by Stable Diffusion and other major generative AI products. The removal follows discoveries made by Stanford researchers, who found thousands instances of suspected child sexual abuse material in the dataset.
News
Verizon Gave Her Data to a Stalker. ‘This Has Completely Changed My Life’
A stalker haphazardly posing as a cop demanded sensitive data from Verizon. Verizon complied, and the stalker drove to an address armed with a knife. 404 Media spoke to the victim.